Owen Cavanough : Margaret Darnell

Owen Cavenaugh (Cavanough) aged 25, arrived into Sydney Cove as an Able Seaman, aboard Sirius. After Sirius was wrecked on Norfolk Island in 1790, he was discharged to become a settler obtaining land at Cascade Stream, Phillipsburg. By 1794 Owen was living withMargaret Darnell who was indicated for stealing, on 30 March 1787, one dozen desert knives and forks, value 6s, being the property of James White. Sentenced at the Old Bailey on 18 April 1787, to seven years transportation, Margaret was immediately sent to Portsmouth for embarkation on the Prince of Wales. At Port Jackson, Margaret bore a son Charles by private marine Charles Green. The child went with her to Norfolk Island on 4 March 1790, and by the June 1790 she was living with Owen Cavanough. In September 1794 Charles Green made an attempt to reclaim his son, but did not persist further when Margaret was told she could keep him until he was seven.

Having sold his land on Norfolk Island in 1796, Owen, Margaret their two children and young Charles, left the island aboard the Francis for Port Jackson. Following their return, Owen purchased a boat by which he carried grain to Sydney from his rented land by the Hawkesbury River in the Mulgrave District. Over the following years, Owen became a successful famer, growing produce and owning live stock on land acquired and purchased. In 1802 a four acre grant at Ebenezer on the Hawkesbury River was given for the erection of a church, that remains today as the oldest surviving church in Australia. Owen and Margaret had seven children with Charles Green remaining part of the family.

Margaret Darnell Cavanough died on 24 September 1834 and was buried at St Thomas Cemetery Sackville Reach. Owen Cavanough was drowned on 27 November 1841 at Wheeney Creek on the Hawkesbury. He was also buried at Sackville Reach.

Honouring their WW1 descendants

17211 Brian Innes de Clare Cavanough (Brother to Charles Innes de Clare Cavanough) Presbyterian Clergyman/Chaplain 18th Battalion (19th Reinforcements)2nd Lieutenant 30 September 1916Lieutenant 25 September 1917 Born 21 March 1881 Tenterfield New South Wales to Charles Innes and Mary Ann Butt (Watts) Cavanough Occupation Student St Andrews College with the University of Sydney Enlisted 18 October 1915, Lithgow New South Wales, aged 35 Next of kin Wife Mrs Beatrice Cavanough, Railway Street Chatswood NSW Embarked 7 February 1917 Sydney New South Wales, aboard HMAT Wiltshire A18 Service in France Returned to Australia 30 January 1918 on Euripides A14 Discharged 30 January 1918

WW11 service as Presbyterian Chaplain

Windsor and Richmond Gazette NSW, Wednesday 6 May 1953Internment at Ebenezer Had Local InterestA Service of special interest to many district residents took place in the historic Presbyterian cemetery at Ebenezer Church on Sunday morning last.

It was the internment of the ashes of the Rev. B. de C. Cavanough, a descendant of Owen Cavanough, one of the free settlers who came to the Hawkesbury in 1803, and who gave the land for the Ebenezer Church and graveyard.

The Rev. B. de C. Cavanough was a chaplain in both World Wars, was Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Queensland, and for the past 24 years was minister at Sherwood, Brisbane. He died on September 30 last, aged 71 years.

Illustration from ‘The Education Department’s Record of War Service Victoria 1914-1919’

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